Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and September 30, 2026.
Fentress County, Tennessee, has about 20,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Fentress County Sheriff's Office and one city agency. An arrest leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the District Attorney General files charges, a case in the Fentress County Circuit and Chancery Courts. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Fentress County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Fentress County
The Fentress County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Fentress County. It reported 535 arrests for 2025.
One city in Fentress County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Jamestown, 2,102 residents: 111 arrests reported for 2025.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Fentress County
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Fentress County Sheriff's Office: 535 for 2025, 420 for 2024, 388 for 2023, 413 for 2022, 554 for 2021 and 666 for 2020.
- Jamestown: 111 for 2025, 160 for 2024, 93 for 2023, 119 for 2022, 117 for 2021 and 127 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 646 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 646 in 2025 against 580 in 2024, up 11 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 376 arrests, against 441 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Fentress County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Fentress County and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2024 the jail held about 130 people, down from about 170 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 166 beds, and it ran at 77 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Fentress County Sheriff's Office at fentresscountytn.gov/sheriff-department (page title: Sheriff Department | Fentress County), phone 931-879-8142, 140 Justice Center Drive Suite 1 Jamestown, TN 38556, Monday & Wednesday | 8:15 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Tennessee Department of Correction lists its inmates at foil.app.tn.gov/foil/search.jsp.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Fentress County
An arrest in Fentress County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Fentress County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at tncourts.gov/node/9782333); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at tennesseeda.gov/district-8).
Tennessee is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: TORIS lets anyone run a name-based criminal history search online, for $29 a search, through the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Fentress County
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. Under the Tennessee Public Records Act the agency must answer within 7 business days, and it may charge copying, and labor after the first hour.
- An arrest by the Fentress County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 931-879-8142.
- An arrest in Jamestown: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney General handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Fentress County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at tncourts.gov/node/9782333.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at fentresscountytn.gov (page title: li. Requesting Access to Public Records).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Fentress County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the two cities in Fentress County: Jamestown. Allardt has no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Fentress County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Fentress County each year?
The Fentress County Sheriff's Office reported 535 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 646 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Fentress County?
Ask the Fentress County Sheriff's Office at 931-879-8142; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at fentresscountytn.gov/sheriff-department.
Where are people arrested in Fentress County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Fentress County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Fentress County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation: TORIS lets anyone run a name-based criminal history search online, for $29. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Tennessee Public Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Fentress County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Fentress County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Tennessee Public Records Act the answer is due within 7 business days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at fentresscountytn.gov.
Is this the official Fentress County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.